World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy looks at his club during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland looks dejected on the 16th hole where he took a triple bogey seven during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland watches his approach shot land in the water on the 18th hole during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland walks off the course on the 18th hole with caddy J.P Fitzgerald during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy walks off the course during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland looks dejected during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland watches his approach shot land in the water as he is watched by Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa on the 18th hole during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy walks off the course on the 18th hole during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his tee shot on the 18th hole during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland lines up a putt on the 17th hole during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland hands over his score card as he walks off the course on the 18th hole during the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday, March 1, 2013 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Stuart Franklin
/ Getty Images

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VANCOUVER — The shocking aspect was not that Rory McIlroy withdrew from a golf tournament with a toothache, although — judging by the “A golfer quit because of what?” captions on photos of tooth-deprived Bobby Clarke and Duncan Keith that made the rounds — hockey fans did find the pain threshold amusing.

No, what got the sporting world’s shorts in a knot Friday morning was that for the first time in anyone’s memory, Rory McIlroy, the fresh prince of golf, the Northern Irish ray of sunshine, the 23-year-old world No. 1, did an uncool thing.

He walked off the course in the middle of his ninth hole of the day, the par-5 18th at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., after hitting his approach to the green into the water.

He was already seven-over-par through eight holes of the second round of the Honda Classic, with two bogeys, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey.

Three reporters intercepted him in the parking lot, where he said: “There’s not really much I can say, guys. I’m not in a good place mentally, you know.” Then he climbed in his car and drove the 12-minute drive back to his home in Jupiter.

A statement he released later said that pain from a wisdom tooth had made it difficult to concentrate, a belated excuse that spawned an outbreak of jokes along the lines of: “Are you sure he didn’t say he was in a bad place dentally?”

What’s wrong with Rory? He has missed the cut in the only other stroke play tournament he has entered in 2013, Abu Dhabi, and after a month off, he was eliminated in the first round of the Accenture Match Play last week. Now, he walks off in the middle of a horrible round — it’s amazing how few toothaches, bad backs and sore wrists afflict players when they’re on their way to shooting 65 — and has to invent a plausible explanation to avoid a fine by the PGA Tour.

Is it the new clubs? Is he unable to play the equipment that Nike is reported to be paying him $20 million a year to use? Could it be, as Aussie Steve Elkington suggested, more about the cavity in his new driver than anything in his mouth?

Is it Caroline? Could he and Wozniacki, the Danish tennis star, be Splitsville? Is he pining for the fjords?

Is it simply “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” syndrome? Has the pressure of carrying around the world No. 1 ranking, being the favourite for every big title, having his every utterance fawned upon and micro-analyzed, proved overwhelming?

Or has the loveable, cocky kid who broke in as the anti-Tiger — smiling not brooding, open not evasive, candid not disingenuous — already beginning to morph into a younger version of his fellow Nike tub-thumper, complete with temper and petulance?

Please, please, please, says the golf media: anything but that.

The Rory who shot 63 at the Old Course in the first round of the 2010 Open, then ballooned to an 80, then cheerfully bounced back with 69-68 on the weekend ... the classy lad who fell apart on Sunday to lose the 2011 Masters then tweeted a picture of himself with his arm around the green-jacketed Charl Schwartzel on a flight that evening to Asia ... the curly-haired kid who rolled out of bed late, barely made his tee time and, still chewing on an energy bar and without a practice swing, dismantled Keegan Bradley in the Sunday singles at the Ryder Cup ... that’s the Rory we hoped would always stay grounded, funny and ... well, Irish.

But that Rory was not the guy who pulled the ‘chute Friday.

What’s troubling is that he was asked repeatedly by the reporters in the parking lot whether anything was wrong physically. “No,” he said, then admitted: “I really don’t know what’s going on” with his golf game.

But Tour rules make it clear that a player must have a compelling reason — “injury or other disability which requires medical attention or serious personal emergency” — for withdrawing during a round, and must supply written evidence to the commissioner within two weeks.

So basically, McIlroy is going to have to come up with a note from his dentist.

His playing partner, Ernie Els, had also hit into the water at the 18th, and told the Associated Press’s Doug Ferguson: “I was dropping my ball and I realized he wasn’t dropping his ball. When I hit my fourth shot, he just came up and said, ‘Here’s my card. I’m out of here.’

“I’m a great fan of Rory’s, but I don’t think that was the right thing to do.”

McIlroy’s statement referred to a sore wisdom tooth which he intends to have removed in the near future, and said it was “very painful again this morning, and I was simply unable to concentrate.” He said he was “gutted” not to be able to defend his Honda title.

Ferguson reported that he was seen eating a sandwich on the 18th fairway.

“I didn’t notice anything,” said the third member of the group, Mark Wilson. “He wasn’t playing the way the world No. 1 plays normally. Didn’t hit the ball where he wanted to, and he’s a true gentleman, though. He wasn’t treating Ernie and myself in a different way. He was upset with his golf and I guess he had enough for the week.”

Boiled down to its essence, it was a young player, street-wise but not yet fully developed, withdrawing from a run-of-the-mill tournament.

It wasn’t so different from, say, Canada’s best tennis player, Milos Raonic, pulling himself out midway through last year’s Davis Cup tie against France over a grumpy knee, but playing in the following week’s ATP event, for money.

He was saving his bullets for something that meant more to him than a probable singles loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in matches Canada wasn’t going to win, anyway.

McIlroy’s eyes are on bigger prizes, too. World Golf Championship events, like the one next week at Doral. And the Masters, in early April.

But until he wins again, he’s going to get the Tiger treatment, now. It goes with the territory, and the dough. That tooth could have used just a bit more wisdom.

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